Chapter 7: Heat

“Tilla!” Her name called out through the red mist that had corrupted her vision. It was yelled again before Luther’s voice could startle Tilla from the trace she had fallen under. Blinking, wide-eyed and bewildered as though she had just awakened from a long nap, she glanced around at the men that surrounded her. Finding her assailants now collapsed on the ground, their hands held to their throats in a desperate appeal for air. Appearing to be strangled by an invisible opponent, the wood was soon afflicted by a gruesome chorus of gargling and grunting as they remained doubled over on the dirt.

Still pinned beneath the weight of the man who had pinned her to the ground, he spluttered forth a cough. The wet hacking noise followed by a spray of red liquid that splattered across her face, Tilla stayed frozen as Luther came forward to pull the man from her. The lycanthrope’s eyes, darkened by the vehemence of his anger, Tilla scrambled away from him as he subdued her attacker with a bruti